Guys!!! We made it to 2017 & survived the holiday season. I hope your holidays were incredibly fun! We had the best 10 days. My husband & kids were all off, minus swim practice… we had all the free time. I stopped cooking for clients on the 19th and enjoyed a much-deserved respite as well. I wish I could say it was relaxing and easy going but hosting company, cooking, parties and attempting to keep up my fitness did take its toll. Plus both of my girls and father all managed to get sick right over Christmas/New Years. Never fails, right?

We hosted this year, as we always do. We had a lovely Christmas and then headed to NYC to get out of town. We’ve made it our tradition to go and visit the tree at Rockefeller Center, eat all the vegan food and check out the incredible window displays. It was a lot of fun. But today, reality hit and everyone headed back to school, swim and work – including me. I got up at 4a and got my run in and then began prepping food.

Today I wanted to get a jump start on dinner early because we have a swim meet after school. The timing always falls over dinner prep time. I typically stress the entire meet thinking of what to make for dinner – but not today. Taken care of and quickly in my Instant Pot. Did you happen to get an IP for the holidays? If you did… this is a must-try, easy plant-based recipe. This recipe has a huge protein punch with two types of lentils and the heartiness is perfect for a chilly winter dinner. I also love serving this over rice or quinoa. Makes a great lunch idea if you have any leftovers.

Turn your Instant Pot to the sauté setting and let that heat up. Add a drizzle of olive oil (1 tablespoon or so). Once hot, add your onion, peppers and garlic. Cook, stirring often, for about 4 minutes. Then add all of your spices from cumin through chili powder. Stir to coat all of the veggies. Then turn the machine off. Add your remaining ingredients and secure/lock the lid. Turn the vent to close. Press the manual button and set the time for 15 minutes. The Instant Pot will then turn on by itself. Once the time is up – let it manually release the pressure for 10-12 minutes. The plunger on the top will sink down and allow you to open the lid. Serve immediately.

I’ll apologize for the poor lighting now in my pictures below. It was a very dark, gloomy and rainy day here in PA.

So I managed to finish out last week with 160 miles of running for December and 1600 miles for the year! Not bad with taking 4 months off for meniscus repair post surgery. A far cry from my almost 2200 in 2015 but I’ll take it.

Starting 2017 with a bit of a shin issue… here is my recap so far this week: